Silly question, but at what score is a coach happy? I looked all evening in my notebook, tab “gaffer”, and found nothing.
The facts first. On Saturday night, Club Brugge won 1-4 against La Louvière at the Easi Arena. Last year, La Louvière had beaten them twice. Vetlesen scored from a set piece, Virgili in the 34th minute, Tresoldi from the penalty spot just before the break. Nolan Gillot pulled it back to 1-3 with a strike the public broadcaster RTBF calls sublime, then Bruges added another. Revenge, then. I wrote “revenge” with a smiley.
Then I read what Ivan Leko told Sporza. The first 50 to 55 minutes, really very good. After that, his team became “a little bit nonchalant or a little bit arrogant”. He wants a side that leads 0-3 to aim for 0-5 or 0-6. He also said you have to stay “humble and grateful, work hard and not think you’re Messi”.
So I opened a new tab: “Messi, thinking you are”. I don’t yet know at what point you start thinking it. At the third goal? While celebrating? In basketball, when you lead by thirty, the subs come on and everyone finds that normal, I looked.
Another mystery: after 1-3, the referee gave La Louvière a penalty for a contact between Spileers and Isah, then cancelled it after consulting VAR. So for a while there was a penalty. Where did it go? I’m digging.
In 1980, we won 4-1 and went home. Nobody asked for the sixth.
My provisional sum: at 0-3, you must want 0-6. At 0-6, I suppose you must want 0-12. I put the question to the newsroom, three people, three answers. Next stop: Inter Milan. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
It’s true, we checked: RTBF Sport.
